Cloud Shapes
by Inky Iris
Summary: "Shouldn't you be in school?" Danny, raising an eyebrow, looked back at him. "Shouldn't you?" Danny and Robin have a conversation as civilians.
1. Chapter 1

Danny stood at the edge of the cliff, staring across the bay to Titan's Tower, glinting in the 10 o'clock sun. With a deep sigh, he dropped to the ground, swinging his legs over the side of the cliff. He ran a hand through hair mussed by the brisk wind coming off the water, not bothered in the slightest by the chill. Closing his eyes, he let out another weary sigh and leaned back onto his elbows. He didn't know what to do.

"Hey, Mom, you need to stay away from Vlad because he's an evil, obsessed frootloop."

Yeah. That would go over well. He flopped onto his back and just lay there, undisturbed as the waves crashed and gulls cried. Footsteps on the gravel at the bottom of the hill broke into his reverie. He tensed, listening. They were quiet, nearly silent, a quality Vlad's steps held, but they were lighter than Vlad's. Danny twisted slightly on his back, opening his eyes to see who was coming up the slope. After a few minutes, ink-black hair as dark as Danny's own appeared over the ridge. Blue eyes widened as they took in the sight of Danny, sprawled at the edge of the cliff. The guy stopped.

"Hey," Danny greeted after a second.

"Hello. I didn't know anyone was up here," the other boy replied after a moment's hesitation. He looked to be around Danny's age, thin, though not as much as Danny, and... yep, it looked like he was shorter than Danny.

Mentally smirking, Danny watched the boy. When he didn't say anything, Danny blinked. "Oh. Uh, sorry?"

The boy shook his head. "I'm sorry. I'll go somewhere else."

Danny sat up. "I didn't mean go away." It didn't make sense. For the past month, all he wanted was to be left alone. Now, when he finally had what he wanted, he craved company.

The boy hesitated, studying Danny. He must've passed whatever inspection the boy had given, because he approached and sat a few feet away along the cliff face.

"I'm Danny."

"Di-Richard."

Danny nodded and they sat in relative silence. It was Richard who finally broke it. "Shouldn't you be in school?"

Danny, raising an eyebrow, looked back at him. "Shouldn't you?"

"Homeschooled."

"Mmm. Well, I can't deal with school today. Sue me." Danny leaned back onto his elbows, face to the sky, though he didn't miss the studying look Richard once again gave him.

"If you jump, I don't have anything to catch you with."

"If you jump, I'll probably jump after you to save you. We'd both be screwed, so let's just not jump, okay?"

"You think I'm up here to commit suicide?"

Danny turned his head. "You don't look like you're up here to make shapes out of clouds." Honestly, the guy looked like crap. His eyes were bloodshot, blue shadows under them, and there was a yellowed bruise above his right eyebrow. His face looked drawn and pale. Richard didn't look at him and, after a second, Danny returned his gaze to the sky.

"Want to, uh," Richard began reluctantly, each word sounding like it was being pulled forcefully from his mouth, "Want to... talk... about it?"

Danny didn't think so. "You first."

A painfully awkward quiet followed his words, before, "There is... someone who I... do not get along with, and has... been causing me some problems."

Danny snorted. "Take that, plus married to your mom and you've got my problem." It wasn't too much of an exaggeration - his mom and Vlad were together all the time. Danny reluctantly admitted that it probably wouldn't be long before they were engaged.

"Life sucks." Richard said, summing up Danny's thoughts with two words.

"Yep."

* * *

Though it can stand alone, this is actually an excerpt from a long TT/DP fic I'm writing. This is the first time Dick and Danny meet. I figured I would see what people thought =] Let me know what you liked/didn't like, etc.

There is a trailer now up for the full fic. youtube watch?v=OnUPUHjRnRc =]

Fun Fact! The cover picture is a picture I took of a real building in April =]


	2. Chapter 2

I'm going to save most of what I'm going to say until the end of this, but I wanted to address two things first off. First, this does not directly follow the last excerpt. I think this is at least a couple of months later. Second, this is not, nor will it be, slash.

* * *

He was such an idiot. He didn't think he had ever done anything more stupid in his life. His knee throbbed with every step as he made his way up the hill. When had it gotten so steep? At least he wasn't walking on the gravel anymore. The sliding and shifting rocks had definitely made the walk unpleasant. Reaching the summit, he sighed in relief. The grassy expanse stretched in front of him, empty. He limped to a few feet from the edge and frowned. Now he faced the problem of sitting down. He put his left leg at an angle and slowly bent his right, lowering himself to the ground. When he got low enough, he put out his hands and dropped onto them.

"Mm," he grunted as he jarred his leg. He settled onto the ground and leaned back onto his elbows. This was actually kind of comfortable. Letting a deep breath out, he relaxed onto the surprisingly soft ground and closed his eyes. The sun was nice and warm. He hadn't slept very well the night before and it was nice to just lay here.

He opened his eyes, slightly disoriented. He'd moved... Or had the sun? He pushed himself to his elbows and caught sight of something next to him out of the corner of his eye. He whipped his head around to see Richard sitting next to him, watching him. Danny shook his head.

"Don't do that. You nearly gave me a heart attack. You shouldn't sneak up on people."

Richard half smiled. "I didn't sneak up on you. I've been here for an hour."

Danny stared at him blankly. "What?"

"You haven't noticed because you were asleep. You're lucky you didn't get sunburned."

Danny sat up fully. "First off, watching someone while they sleep? Um, _ew._ Second, I don't burn. I don't even tan. It kind of sucks."

Richard chuckled. "I wasn't watching you while you slept."

"Good. Because that would be just creepy." Danny stretched his arm out and heard his shoulder pop. He froze for a moment, making sure his shoulder was still in its joint, before rolling it. He made a face. It was still sore from last week. He noticed Richard watching him again, his expression unreadable. "I'm stiff from sleeping on the ground," he felt the need to tell the other boy. It was a believable excuse. Richard nodded, and turned his gaze back to the bay. Danny looked in the same direction, sighing.

"Y'know," he began, "Sometimes being a teenager sucks. You have to be responsible for tons of stuff, but you still don't get to make your own decisions. You still have to do what people tell you, and no one listens to you." His gaze focused on the Tower in the middle of the bay and frowned at it. "But look at them." He flung an arm out towards the building. "The _Teen_ Titans. They're teenagers too, but they get respect. They have power over their lives. They're so lucky. I wonder if they even realize how lucky they are. They go out and fight for what they believe in, and everyone loves them for it. Then they get to go back to their Tower, or anywhere in town, and just be themselves. Everybody loves them, and they fit in anywhere." Danny sighed. Sometimes, the only thing that stopped him from flying to their doorstep and begging (not begging, asking convincingly in a very manly way) to be allowed to join was Mom. She'd be heartbroken if he suddenly disappeared. He wasn't going to leave her too.

"When you put it that way, yeah, they're really lucky. But they also make enemies. They're in danger all the time. They get attacked a lot and the people they love are put in danger. They're betrayed a lot too. It isn't all easy." Richard had a strange expression on his face as he spoke. Danny laughed slightly.

"Tell me about it."

Great. Now Richard was giving him a weird look. Crap. He had to figure out something to say, something to explain. Preferably without giving away his secret.

"Oh, I forgot. You're homeschooled, huh? You don't have to deal with public high school. Sounds just like school."

Now Richard was looking at him in interest. "Really? What's it like?"

This was something Danny could talk about. "Well, not every school is exactly the same, but a lot of the same stuff happens. There's the popular crowd, jocks, computer geeks, nerds, y'know. There's more band kids here than at my old school. Basketball, drama, and choir are bigger here too. Mostly, we focused on football. They have that here too, of course. Jocks and cheerleaders aren't the only popular ones here, and not all of them are popular. Choir and drama also have their circles. They all pretty much snub everyone else. People are involved in a lot more than just one thing here, too. There's bullies everywhere, but that you kind of take for granted. And-"

"Is bullying a big problem?" Richard cut him off. Danny blinked, then shrugged.

"I don't know. It happens everywhere, but I don't know if it's worse here or what. Why?"

Richard shook his head. "It's nothing." He opened his mouth to say more, but a sudden beeping interrupted him. He stood up. "I have to go. I'm -"

"Being paged, I know." Richard frowned at him, and Danny smirked.

"Yes. I'm sorry."

Danny waved off his apology. "Don't worry about it."

As usual, Richard held out his hand to help Danny up. Danny hesitated. Usually he ignored the offer and got up himself, but... he wasn't sure how well he'd be able to get up on his own. After another moment, he took the other boy's hand. The surprise flashed clearly across Richard's face for a minute before he covered it. He started to heave and Danny nearly let go as his knee twisted.

"Danny? Are you alright?" Richard's face was full of concern. Danny let out the breath he had gasped in, his own face white. He nodded slightly.

"I just fell yesterday and twisted my knee." He managed. Richard paled almost as much as Danny.

"I am so sorry." Richard's voice was sober, his face matching the tone. "I'm pretty good with medical stuff. Do you want me to take a look at-"

"No!" Danny's head snapped up. He took a breath, then repeated, more calmly, "No. I just need to go slower." Richard still looked at him warily, but nodded.

"Okay. Tell me when you're ready." Danny nodded in response and Richard moved so he was facing the taller boy more.

Danny took a deep breath. "Ready."

Richard firmly gripped his hand and slowly pulled, supporting his friend to his feet. He steadied Danny as he stood upright. "You alright?" Richard looked the other boy full in the face, but Danny avoided his eyes. He frowned.

"I'm fine." Danny replied, giving a shadow of a smile. He looked over his shoulder, to where the hill sloped down. "So, see you later." Richard nodded.

"Bye, Danny." He looked at the young halfa for a moment longer before turning and heading down the hill. Danny sighed, before heading down the other side, in the direction of the park. They had plenty of benches and his mom had an evening class tonight. She wouldn't be home until late. He just needed to make sure he was home first.

* * *

I figured that I should give you another bit for the success the first chapter has gotten. =) So, I guess I just made myself a liar, if any of you have checked out my writing blog. I started this after I posted the announcement of my temporary hiatus, and just had to put it up =) A few things: looking through beta profiles is confusing as all get out, so if anyone wants to volunteer, it would be appreciated. Thanks to everyone who has read, reviewed, favorited, or alerted this story! There was something else I really wanted to say, but... I can't remember what it was. =[ I hope it wasn't too important... Hope you enjoyed! Let me know what you liked/didn't like/think I could do better on or change =]

Thanks to VampireFrootloopsRule for correcting my band slip =]

I seem to have confused people, so to clarify, I doubt I will be adding another chapter to _this_ story. However, keep in mind that this is an **excerpt**. There is a bigger story that this comes from and _that_ will be _**multi-chaptered**_.** =)** First chapter should be out in December.

_**Sorry for the confusion!**_


	3. Chapter 3

**Edit: 5/2/13**

**Notes on changes at bottom of fic**

_Original Author's Note:_ I know, I know, tiny, right? Well, that's because I wasn't going to just post an announcement and nothing else. The announcement? The first chapter of the big fic is up, called 'Into The Dark'. =)

* * *

Danny could tell that it was Richard from the way the steps were light and nearly silent, even though the bottom of the hill was coated in gravel. Danny doesn't turn. His hands shake and he clenches them into fists to stop them from shaking. He wants to be alone right now.

No, he doesn't.

He _really_ doesn't want to be alone right now. That was why he'd come here, because there was a good chance Richard would come, especially since Danny knew he would find out. Richard was one of those people who knew when not to talk. He presses his fists into the sides of his thighs, trying to hide their shaking. It was probably useless. Richard was perceptive.

Danny forces his eyes forward, staring across the water as the afternoon sun gleams on it. It doesn't feel real. Everything since that morning had taken on a sort of weird quality. It felt like today was a dream. A nightmare.

The footsteps stop behind him and an intense sense of relief fills him as he feels Richard's hand on his shoulder.

"I heard about your f–"

"Don't. Please, just… not now. I'll…" He trails off with a sigh.

Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Richard stand there for a second before sitting on the ground. Danny moves to sit as well, though it's more of a controlled collapse. They sit in silence.

After a few minutes, Danny opens his mouth and begins to talk. He says more than he intends, as his throat closes and his mouth feels dry. He feels like he just can't _stop_ talking. Finally, he has nothing more to say. They sit in silence for a few more minutes.

"Danny," Richard begins softly, "I'm sorry about J–" Danny nods and he trails off awkwardly.

Neither of them are very good with feelings, but knowing that his friend is next to him helps Danny. They don't need to say anything more. The sun dips low in the horizon and he knows he should be heading home. Mom would be frantic by now. He begins to stand. He could try to smile now, for Mom. She must feel a hundred times worse about Dad than he felt right now. It made him feel a little better, somehow, that she could empathize somehow.

He could get through this.

* * *

May 2, 2013: I know it's still short, but it's not the pathetic hundred or less words it was. I felt I really needed to expand it. I might extend it further at a later date, but for now, I'm leaving it as is and going back to work on the next chapter of 'Into The Dark'. There will be no more chapters for this story. I hope you've enjoyed it!

I've made it much longer, changed a bit of content, and changed the tense. He's dealing with the grief of death and it seems like that's a current, everything-happening-right-now kind of thing. It was a little hard to write, the whole dealing bit, because I drew from my own experiences.

I hope this is better than it was, a little more up to the standards of the other chapters. Please review and check out the fic these bits are based off, 'Into The Dark'!


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